Jump to content
British Speedway Forum
old bob at herne bay

Will British Speedway Survive ?

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, arnieg said:

I knew I had this info somewhere - just come across this.

[NOTE - it is 15 years old but given the high proportion of long term fans it seems unlikely to have changed much]

 

70% of people who attend speedway meetings are male and 30% female. 20% bring their children

 

81% attend 10 or more meetings per season confirming that the sport is down to its hard core fans.

 

Speedway fans are not particularly high earners with 31% earning below £20k and 39% earning between £21k – 40k. Their relatively low socio-demographics are also confirmed by the fact that 63% read The Star, The Sun or The Mirror.

 

Also 31% have no qualifications and another 45% are educated to GCSE/O Level. Only 9% hold a university degree.

 

17% are 19-24 years old, 21% 25-34 years old and 23% 35-49 years old.

 

All in all, this does represent a segment of society which is not particularly interesting to sponsors.

 

Around 20% of people attend meetings with their kids, 63% with family adults and 72% attend with 1-3 other people.

 

What is interesting is the response the respondents gave when asked why attended speedway meetings:

 

Support the home team 30%

The atmosphere 23%

A good night out 20%

Quality of the teams 10%

Family night out 6%

Other 11%

Total 100%

 

source : 2007 Marketing Report commissioned by BSPA

As a neutral with no team to support. I must admit i enjoy the social side of speedway as much as the racing. This is the total opposite to following a Premier League football team. When generations of friends and family were separated due to the grounds being made all seater, football lost some of its soul. Although the stadiums definitely needed improving, especially from a safety point of view.

Edited by cityrebel
Spelling mistake

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, arnieg said:

I knew I had this info somewhere - just come across this.

[NOTE - it is 15 years old but given the high proportion of long term fans it seems unlikely to have changed much]

 

70% of people who attend speedway meetings are male and 30% female. 20% bring their children

 

81% attend 10 or more meetings per season confirming that the sport is down to its hard core fans.

 

Speedway fans are not particularly high earners with 31% earning below £20k and 39% earning between £21k – 40k. Their relatively low socio-demographics are also confirmed by the fact that 63% read The Star, The Sun or The Mirror.

 

Also 31% have no qualifications and another 45% are educated to GCSE/O Level. Only 9% hold a university degree.

 

17% are 19-24 years old, 21% 25-34 years old and 23% 35-49 years old.

 

All in all, this does represent a segment of society which is not particularly interesting to sponsors.

 

Around 20% of people attend meetings with their kids, 63% with family adults and 72% attend with 1-3 other people.

 

What is interesting is the response the respondents gave when asked why attended speedway meetings:

 

Support the home team 30%

The atmosphere 23%

A good night out 20%

Quality of the teams 10%

Family night out 6%

Other 11%

Total 100%

 

source : 2007 Marketing Report commissioned by BSPA

So only 40% used to go to follow a team or go because of what quality of riders were there...

And that was 15 years ago when more "names" were riding in the UK..

It really shows for me how important an overall entertainment package must be in keeping the majority 60% happy, and also shows how misguided promoters sometimes are focusing the majority of their time, energy and money on getting their teams right (all to try and win competitions hardly anyone cares about), instead of putting all that focus and investment on getting their entertainment package right each week...

As you say, the % figures probably haven't changed much in the ensuing fifteen years, apart from obviously how many fewer people now make up that 60% than did then..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, greyhoundp said:

Thanks for those figures arnieg, I suspect the age range of supporters attending meetings now has got considerably older since 2007.

Probably by about 13 years!

 

:lol:

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have started a new topic in general discussions about wether this is an opportunity for the sport to be reborn.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, mikebv said:

So only 40% used to go to follow a team or go because of what quality of riders were there...

And that was 15 years ago when more "names" were riding in the UK..

It really shows for me how important an overall entertainment package must be in keeping the majority 60% happy, and also shows how misguided promoters sometimes are focusing the majority of their time, energy and money on getting their teams right (all to try and win competitions hardly anyone cares about), instead of putting all that focus and investment on getting their entertainment package right each week...

As you say, the % figures probably haven't changed much in the ensuing fifteen years, apart from obviously how many fewer people now make up that 60% than did then..

You have drawn a conclusion, without knowing how the question was asked. If people were asked for their top reason, then you cannot say only 40% are interested in teams/riders.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
47 minutes ago, MattK said:

You have drawn a conclusion, without knowing how the question was asked. If people were asked for their top reason, then you cannot say only 40% are interested in teams/riders.

The question mentioned that was asked in the thread was  'Why did they attend Speedway meetings?' 

I presume it was the No1 reason for your attendance requested at the time given the amount of diverse answers from the fans..

I would suggest that there are even a greater number nowadays that attend Speedway who go for 'the racing' rather than treat the league seriously and get that emotional attachment to any result. 

Getting these people to go more regularly is the key to success, as those who go because they still feel an affinity with their team will go anyway..  

The 800 to 1000 or so die hards at most top league tracks will always be there, wearing their scarves and badges and talking about the 'good old days'.

Its the floating 800 to a 1000 who go along now and again which will make a huge difference to the sports finances if they became regulars..

The sport should work together as a collective on finding out what prevents these fans of the sport going more regularly..

And then act upon it accordingly, together..

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The premise that people just want to be entertained and will turn up regardless is surely blown to bits by Poole alone? 

They went from a side with Rickardson, Adams, Loram etc turning out for them and attracted crowds to make most blush.  They are now a watered down version of what they once were, and their attendances show that. All the while a track like Scunthorpe has never grown based solely on "entertainment" 

If people simply wanted to be entertained by the "love of the sport" why do so many bother spending the time effort and money going to the GP in Cardiff when they could just go to the National League Riders Championship? Surely both should attract similar sized crowds? 

"entertainment" typically goes hand in hand with the better standard of riders who generally provide a better level of entertainment. 

The lesser the quality of rider the lesser the standard of entertainment, the notion you can see a National League meeting as good as a Grand Prix meeting for instance, has never actually been a truism.

British Speedway hasn't been on a mission to find its true belonging by "removing" the top riders, it has lost it's identity in loosing them and attempted to flip the narrative to "we didn't need them anyway" which has been held like a comfort blanket by those who have watched others walk away.  

Very few people only go for "the love of the sport" recent years have cemented that - people did want to see names, the best riders on show, it is why more people went when they were on show. 

Edited by Hacksaw Jim Duggan
  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
18 hours ago, Hacksaw Jim Duggan said:

he premise that people just want to be entertained and will turn up regardless is surely blown to bits by Poole alone? 

They went from a side with Rickardson, Adams, Loram etc turning out for them and attracted crowds to make most blush.  They are now a watered down version of what they once were, and their attendances show that. All the while a track like Scunthorpe has never grown based solely on "entertainment" 

Quality of racing with riders of a similar standard is also very  important ( well to me anyway ), If Redcar, the NSS and Scunthorpe provide consistenly good racing, they should drawing in very decent crowds but they are not it seems .

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 minutes ago, waytogo28 said:

Quality of racing with riders of a similar standard is also very  important ( well to me anyway )

To you, I appreciate it is, but to most they are looking for the riders to be of a better standard than those we are "treated" to the in the UK, people do know what good looks like and is. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Hacksaw Jim Duggan said:

To you, I appreciate it is, but to most they are looking for the riders to be of a better standard than those we are "treated" to the in the UK, people do know what good looks like and is. 

I agree and I would love to have the number  of better riders increase, but I see little or no point  in one "superstar" per team and then a gaggle of much lower riders. In the last few years there has been  a big increase in the number of riders who say halfway into lap one " well I missed the gate, so I will wait until my next chance to trap".. Perhaps  because they know they have little chance of doing better in that race?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The regular fans will always be fans. I reckon the way to go is a rider just has 1 team. Of course it will bring the standard down. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
23 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

I agree and I would love to have the number  of better riders increase, but I see little or no point  in one "superstar" per team and then a gaggle of much lower riders. In the last few years there has been  a big increase in the number of riders who say halfway into lap one " well I missed the gate, so I will wait until my next chance to trap".. Perhaps  because they know they have little chance of doing better in that race?

 

I would like to hope not,  as that is a bit of a defeatists and losers attitude to life which won't see them go very far in the sport. That probably does reflect in the standard of racing in recent years.  

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy